Get more from your Xyz Monsters, with Xyz Unit!

May 10th, 2012

If you look around the tables of your local tournament (or even a YCS) you’ll see several Decks and Duelists making the most of Xyz Monsters, which we’ve all been doing for almost a year now. From practical Rank 2 monsters to powerful Rank 8s, there’s something there for everybody, and Galactic Overlord introduces a Spell Card that works great with all of them. Let’s take a look at Xyz Unit!

Xyz Unit is an Equip Spell Card exclusively for Xyz Monsters. When equipped, Xyz Unit gives your monster an extra 200 ATK multiplied by its Rank. That means Rank 2 monsters get 400 more ATK, Rank 4s get an extra 800 ATK and Rank 8s are boosted by a massive 1600 ATK! This as you’d expect is a handy bonus to have when you’re battling opposing monsters.

Let’s look at how it affects some of the most commonly-played Xyz Monsters. Number 39: Utopia will go up to 3300 ATK since it’s Rank 4, which allows it to take down cards like Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World, even when it’s got 3000 ATK thanks to The Gates of Dark World. Leviair the Sea Dragon’s 1800 ATK would rise to 2400 ATK, enough to take down most mid-range monsters like Cyber Dragon and Number 17: Leviathan Dragon (if it hasn’t used its effect). Speaking of Leviathan Dragon, that monster would initially rise to 2600 ATK, and by detaching Xyz Materials that can rise even further.

The other benefit of Xyz Unit is that it lets you use Xyz Monsters that have powerful effects, but their ATK is usually not high enough to make you want to Summon them often. A good example would be Steelswarm Roach. Roach can negate the Summons of Level 5 and higher monsters when they’re Special Summoned, but with only 1900 ATK it can get taken down by monsters as small as Card Trooper. Xyz Unit gives your Rank 4 monster another 800 ATK, suddenly turning Roach into a formidable 2700 ATK monster that can stop your opponent’s biggest cards, especially if they’re playing something like Chaos Dragons, which relies on high Level Special Summons.

Xyz Unit is useful for more than simple ATK boosting though, it’s got another effect that makes it even better! While equipped to an Xyz Monster, if you were to detach an Xyz Material when activating an effect, you can treat Xyz Unit as one of those Materials! This in turn means that not only does your Xyz Monster stay on the field longer thanks to its boosted ATK, but you can use its effects more often as well.

Let’s go back to the Steelswarm Roach example. So normally you have a 1900 ATK monster that can negate the Special Summons of 2 Level 5 or higher monsters, but with Xyz Unit equipped you now have a 2700 ATK monster that can negate 3 Summons. The best way to make use of this extra power would be to detach Roach’s “normal” Xyz Materials first, and then detach Xyz Unit when you need to negate the third Summon. This means that you have a 2700 ATK monster for as long as possible.

Looking at other Xyz Monsters, Xyz Unit simply makes them all more effective. Number 39: Utopia is now a 3300 ATK monster that can negate 3 attacks (but you’ll need to detach Xyz Unit second instead of last). Evolzar Dolkka becomes a 3100 ATK Xyz Monster capable of negating 3 monster effects. Wind-Up Arsenal Zenmaioh suddenly transforms into a 3600 ATK Rank 5 that can destroy a total of SIX Set cards on the field over the course of 3 turns! And if you’re playing the new Djinns from Starter Deck: Xyz Symphony, then you know that Maestroke the Symphony Djinn with 800 more ATK and an extra use of his ability is all kinds of good.

If you’re looking for something simple and effective to make all of your Xyz Monsters stronger, Xyz Unit is the way to go. You can find it this weekend when the Galactic Overlord Sneak Peek hits your local store!